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Thursday, September 19, 2013

365 Poems: Crowdsourcing

Day 263

A night full of history and poetry thanks to two Coursera courses. The webcast for Modern & Contemporary American Poetry through the University of Pennsylvania was flat-out fun. I'm starting to think my profs at IPFW might have been wrong about the academic life. Although taking a MOOC with over 32,000 students might be even better.

Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowednose of mine! what will you not be smelling?What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose,always indiscriminate, always unashamed,and now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggledpoplars: a festering pulp on the wet earthbeneath them. With what deep thirstwe quicken our desiresto that rank odor of a passing springtime!Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardorsfor something less unlovely? What girl will carefor us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?Must you have a part in everything?

We listened to this too -- it's kind of an angry poem, don't you think? Although I think WCW is mad at himself, not his nose.